" In light of Ignatius' 'Two Standards' and 'The Mystries Done From The Garden To The House Of Annas', at any moment we can be Judas or Peter, a Christian life can be a fine line."

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

FBI Violent Crimes Task Force Arrests Jesuit In Chicago

Fr. Richard James Kurtz, S.J.

A 67-year-old Roman Catholic priest was arrested Monday at the Lincoln Park headquarters of his Jesuit order. In this Intelligence Report: a child sex abuse case that authorities say began in Detroit, took place in Colorado and concluded in Chicago.

The priest accused of sexually assaulting a boy is Father Richard Kurtz. He was arrested by agents from the FBI violent crimes task force in a case from 10 years ago when Kurtz was a teacher at a Catholic high school in Michigan. Kurtz was taken into custody without any trouble at the Jesuit's Society of Jesus headquarters on North Clark Street. He is being held on $100,000 bond and extradition proceedings have been started by authorities in Colorado.

The longtime priest is accused of sexually assaulting a child while on a trip to Douglas County, Colorado in 2001. At the time, Father Kurtz was a chemistry teacher at University of Detroit High School in southeastern Michigan. Authorities tell the I-Team that Kurtz and the boy knew each other. Although the crime occurred 10 years ago, sheriff's investigators in Colorado said it was June of this year that they were notified by Jesuit officials in Detroit of the allegation.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I think the good Padre James Martin SJ needs to start reading his own copy. While he is mighty busy hurling rocks at at any and all ecclesial entities in his path, he seems strikingly oblivious to the fact that his own house is on fire. The "Society of Jesus" seems due for some sort of award, about now, for their sexual crimes.

Time for Fr. Martin SJ et al @ America Magazine to pay closer attention to their own "grandiose narcissists", nary a one whom could POSSIBLBY be homosexual, right? Cuz, you know, homosexual priests aren't the problem. Right. I forgot.

A correction/clarification is in order: per a statement from the school in question, they did remove Fr. Kurtz from his teaching position and residence immediately... they did not go to directly to the police... they contacted the Michigan Family Independence Agency which includes Children's Protective Services, the state agency responsible for investigating allegation of child abuse which they say was the appropriate protocol as required by Michigan law at that time.

It is good to know that these criminal elements of the Jesuit Order are arrested.

I hope this will also happen inside Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines) where some students were reportedly sexually abused by Jesuits together with their partners in the Ateneo Dollhouse community.

About Me

I am not a Jesuit, nor am I a cleric. I spent about 5 years under the spiritual direction of a Jesuit, 3 of those years in a weekly directed retreat in everyday life. The profound impact that the Society and the Excercises had upon my life, resulted in me, trying to deal with that impact in some way by sharing my view of Jesus Christ with others. My intention is to pull together Jesuitical and Catholic subjects that interest me. I was born on the feast day of St. Paul Miki, S.J.. I am the father of three small children and an infant, I am married to a great wife.